An effective non-violent approach to demand Palestinian Human Rights

Concordia undergraduates: by voting YES to BDS from November 25 to 27, we can end our complicity with human rights abuses against Palestinians and send a strong message to Concordia about our commitment to equality. BDS is not about religion, it’s about human rights.

The BDS movement has its roots in the international boycott movement that helped abolish apartheid in South Africa: It proved to be an effective form of global non-violent resistance and in 2005 inspired Palestinian civil society to initiate its own global call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) to hold Israel accountable to international law and end its apartheid system.

Addressing Israel’s documented violations of international law, the BDS movement demands that Israel end its occupation and colonization of Palestinian lands and dismantle the wall; recognize the fundamental rights of Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and allow the right of exiled Palestinian refugees to return as stipulated in UN resolution 194.

Over the past several years organizations around the world including student associations across Canada have joined the movement, including Israel-based BOYCOTT!, Canada-based Independent Jewish Voices, as well as our own university’s Graduate Students’ Association.

Concordia is connected with the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, which has strong ties to the Israeli military and its occupation and is involved in research and development of technology reinforcing the illegal wall. By voting YES to BDS, Concordia undergraduate students can join their graduate counterparts to oppose the violation of human rights of Palestinians.

As critically-minded students, you can help cut our university’s ties with Israel’s colonialism and occupation: Your vote will be an important drop in the growing sea of hope for the possibility of peace and human dignity for Palestinians and Israelis.